Otitis externa (ear disease) is one of the most common and welfare-significant conditions in dogs, with many affected dogs experiencing chronic, recurrent pain that is inadequately managed.
Chronic ear disease causes ongoing pain that significantly reduces quality of life. Dogs with chronic otitis shake their heads constantly, scratch until they bleed and flinch from handling around the head - indicators of pain that are sometimes dismissed as normal breed behaviour. Treatment of secondary infection without addressing the primary cause (usually allergic skin disease) leads to cyclical reinfection. Welfare-positive management requires identifying the underlying cause, appropriate anti-inflammatory treatment, regular ear cleaning and honest assessment of when surgical management (which provides permanent resolution of the painful, infected canal) is the most welfare-positive option.